U.S. to ship arms to aid Somalia's government

Somalia

Pauline Jelinek and Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press

Published
4:00 am PDT, Friday, June 26, 2009

Four men sentenced to have a hand and foot cut off stand in a square in north of Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday June 22, 2009. The Somali Islamic militants faction Alshabab carried out amputations on Thursday on four young men accused of robbery in the capital Mogadishu. Alshabab judge Abdul Haq sentenced the four young men on Tuesday to a cross-amputation, that's the amputation of the right hand and the left foot. They were accused of stealing pistols and mobile phones from Mogadishu residents. Aden Mohamud, Ismail khalif , Jeylani Mohamed, and Abdulkadir Adow were brought in an open ground by Alshabab in their Malah military camp in the notrheastren part of the city, where the the sentence was carried out. less

Four men sentenced to have a hand and foot cut off stand in a square in north of Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday June 22, 2009. The Somali Islamic militants faction Alshabab carried out amputations on Thursday ... more

Photo: Associated Press

Photo: Associated Press

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Four men sentenced to have a hand and foot cut off stand in a square in north of Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday June 22, 2009. The Somali Islamic militants faction Alshabab carried out amputations on Thursday on four young men accused of robbery in the capital Mogadishu. Alshabab judge Abdul Haq sentenced the four young men on Tuesday to a cross-amputation, that's the amputation of the right hand and the left foot. They were accused of stealing pistols and mobile phones from Mogadishu residents. Aden Mohamud, Ismail khalif , Jeylani Mohamed, and Abdulkadir Adow were brought in an open ground by Alshabab in their Malah military camp in the notrheastren part of the city, where the the sentence was carried out. less

Four men sentenced to have a hand and foot cut off stand in a square in north of Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday June 22, 2009. The Somali Islamic militants faction Alshabab carried out amputations on Thursday ... more

Photo: Associated Press

U.S. to ship arms to aid Somalia's government

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The Obama administration has decided to bolster efforts to support Somalia's embattled government by providing money for weapons and helping the military in neighboring Djibouti train Somali forces, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The goal is to stem Islamic insurgent advances in the Horn of Africa, but the plan would commit the United States to a greater embrace of a shaky government atop one of the world's most chaotic states.

An administration review of U.S. policy toward Somalia found an urgent need to supply the Somali government with ammunition and weapons as it struggles to confront increasingly powerful Islamic militants.

Alarmed by terrorists' gains in Somalia, the administration decided it needed to do more to support Somalia's transitional federal government, officials said.

Officials said the United States would not conduct the training and that the U.S. military would not be in Somalia. The United States would provide logistical support for the training, and provide arms to the Somalis. The U.S. officials spoke about the emerging plan on condition of anonymity because the details have not yet been finalized.

But even with the administration's careful effort not to leave an American footprint in a country racked by violent upheaval, the move amounts to a budding foreign complication for the United States as its own armed forces wage two distant wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The effort to bolster Somalia's tattered military and police forces faces heavy odds. Somalia has been in chaos for nearly 20 years, and the current U.N.-backed government there controls only a few blocks of the capital and comes under regular attack from increasingly powerful Islamic insurgents.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday the administration was concerned about continuing unrest in Somalia. Kelly confirmed that the United States organized an arms shipment made to the Somali government earlier this month, but did not confirm the plans to train Somali forces in Djibouti. One official said the shipment was ammunition delivered to Mogadishu. The Washington Post first reported the arms shipment Thursday.

The "threat to the government," Kelly said, "is causing real suffering - this kind of violence is causing real suffering for the Somalian people and it's just prolonging the chaos and preventing the country from getting on stable footing. So, yes, we are concerned."

Warlords and Islamic al-Shabab militants control the countryside, which has become a growing base for al Qaeda terrorists arriving from Yemen and South Asia, U.S. officials have said. Somali pirates operating from coastal towns have hijacked dozens of cargo ships and confronted the U.S. Navy during an April standoff that ended when American snipers freed a hostage after killing three pirates.

Insurgents hold sway even inside Somalia's capital. That was evident Thursday as militants cut off the limbs of four men convicted of stealing cell phones during a public display of fundamentalist Islamic justice.